This invention relates to a swabbing apparatus which is to be used by physicians and technicians for collecting a culture from various areas of the patient's body, such as the ears, nose and throat, and for keeping the culture moist and alive for a period of time after it is collected.
The swabbing units of the prior art customarily comprise an absorbent swab upon which the culture is collected by swabbing the particular body area, and a separate container in which the swab is inserted and kept moist so that the collected culture will be in an alive condition when subsequently tested.
It has been common in the past to employ the use of an individual disposable container which contains a sterile swab (prior to use) and a quantity of culture medium. The swab after use is inserted back into the container and the culture medium is caused to come into contact with the tip of the swab. The swab is then marked according to the particular patient and then transmitted to a laboratory where it is then removed and processed according to normal practice. The fact that the tip of the swab has remained moist due to the culture medium is to insure the growth of the culture during the transporting of it to the laboratory. Also, because the swab has been supported within a container, which is completely closed, contamination by foreign organism is prevented. This means that the infection grown on the tip of the swab is definitely attributable to the patient. Once the individual type of swab has been used, such is then discarded to not insure reuse.
The individual swabbing devices of the prior art have been only able to contain a minimal amount of culture medium. At certain times it would be desirable to contain a greater quantity of culture medium due to the type of organism for which the test is being performed. Additionally, there has not been any structure which is to confine the culture medium directly to the tip of the swab and at times the culture medium will be conducted along the length of the swab which causes the tip of the swab to dry out. The drying out of the tip of the swab can cause complete destruction of the organisms which were located on the tip of the swab.
Additionally, in the past it has not been known to provide a glass slide section in conjunction with the swabbing unit. At times it may be desirable to smear the tip of the swab on a glass slide prior to insertion within the swabbing unit. This means that the laboratory personnel would have not only the availability of growing the culture but also the availability of observing the organisms on the glass slide by a microscrope.